Mouse Rat, Chris Pratt’s Fake Band From Parks and Recreation, Is Making a Very Real Album

In season 3, episode 16 of Parks and Recreation, Pawnee residents lamented the death of miniature horse Li’l Sebastian to the tune of “5000 Candles in the Wind,” written and performed by Andy Dwyer’s (Chris Pratt's) band, Mouse Rat.

Yesterday, 10 years after the episode’s air date (May 19, 2011), the band dropped a new music video for the beloved dirge—along with some exciting news. As UPROXX reports, Mouse Rat is releasing an actual LP, The Awesome Album, on August 27, 2021.

The 15-song track list includes many Mouse Rat classics, from “The Pit” and “Ann Song” to “Two Birds Holding Hands.” It also features some talented guest artists: Ron Swanson’s sax god alter-ego Duke Silver, for one, played on “Catch Your Dream” and “Cold Water.” Scott Tanner (played by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy), frontman of Pawnee’s most famous band, Land Ho!, contributed vocals for “Cold Water,” and Land Ho! performed “Pickled Ginger.”

Dualtone—the Nashville-based record label behind The Lumineers, Gregory Alan Isakov, and other popular folk and indie acts—is releasing The Awesome Album with the help of Entertainment 720, the fictional media conglomerate founded in the show by Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari).

“Any creative business coming out of Pawnee is tied to Haverford,” Dualtone president Paul Roper said in a statement. “From Rent-a-Swag to Tommy Fresh cologne and Tom’s Bistro, not to mention his business ideas not yet formed like the scented phone, talking tissues, contact lenses that display text messages and the glitter-infused laundry detergent Sparkle Suds, partnering with Entertainment 720’s hype machine was essential. The man is an idea factory.”

Parks and Recreation devotees can pre-order the album here.